Category: Uncategorized

He was up at 6:45. Nursed with Carly in the reading area for quite awhile, then he and I worked on the Duplo zoo. He and Carly then worked on making patterns out of the cardboard bricks – something he got from those plastic rods at the children’s museum. We ate bagel and cream cheese for breakfast. They skyped with Cassie and Vivian for a long time, and brought Cherie into the call. After that, he was taking apart small parts of the Peter Rabbit puzzle and putting it back together, practicing parts of it multiple times. They did some more nursing. I was looking at Google Maps, and he started looking, wanting to see parks and playgrounds. He was trying to tap on stuff, and at one point said “That’s boring stuff.” Carly made a mango banana three juice smoothie. He had more of it a little later, and asked “What is this called? I remember it, but I don’t remember it.” He then played with Figure on his iPad, dancing as he played with all three tracks. He said “Want 14 beats per measure.” Then played with GarageBand and Musyc. Carly had left to go to a coffee shop and work, and August was fine with that. I was going to take him for a walk to a park, but it took awhile to get him going. We had to finish the Peter Rabbit puzzle (he had left about 7 pieces undone) before we could go.

In the stroller we walked down past the tree playground and along the railroad tracks to a little children’s park we had never been to. All it had was a single basketball hoop though, so we walked up to the park by the hospital instead. He started talking about the teenagers we saw at the first park. “That was a baseball player by the boring one.” I don’t know where he got that from. And at first he called this one boring, but then I showed him the places to climb. But what really got his attention was the chestnuts. We started finding them on the ground. He threw some around, then we found ones that were still in their skins, and took them out. He kept trying to put the chestnuts back in their skins. He saw another dad and son on the exercise equipment, and wanted to play on that. We did that for a few minutes before we left a little after 1:30.

Walked home, and as we passed the pink building I saw a woman with a shirt that said ‘Play to enjoy tim’. Carly was still at the coffee shop, so it was just us for awhile. At home, August wanted cereal. I said that wasn’t healthy enough, as he just had bagel in the morning. He went to the juices and said “These are healthy.” I heated up lasagna, but he didn’t eat any of it. He remembered his letters sticker from yesterday, so we got those out of the backpack and he did some of those on paper. Did more work on the zoo (we’ve expanded the herbivore habitat, and made a cage for the polar bear), then he was trying to convince me to let him mix the juices (remembering how Carly had mixed them for the smoothie) when she got home.

He went to sleep for a nap pretty soon after that, and slept from about 2:20 to 3:30. After he woke up and nursed, he and Carly did a lot of coloring on the paper, looking at colors, drawing homes, etc. We wanted to go out for a walk, but it took awhile to get him to agree. Finally headed out around 5. Walked up to Pizza School and got two pizzas, then walked to the complex of parks north of Sarang Children’s Park. It is where we intended to head last weekend when it was raining.

Settled on a bench by the play area in 까치어린이공원 (Magpie Children’s Park) and ate pizza, then he got to playing: climbed on the big rope play structure a bit, then found a couple crab apples. Climbed up a rope ladder to a play structure and played up there with Carly. Threw the crab apples off, and I would hand them back. Went across the bridge thing, then down the slide with Carly. Then back to the big net thing, where he climbed on it a little, watched the big kids, and started singing. A couple of the big kids started singing as well. Not sure if they were singing nonsense words to, but pretty sure they recognized the tune, Wheels on the Bus. Climbed a bit higher on the structure, and sat there next to Carly for quite awhile. Got down, and wanted to draw in the sand with Carly. They drew our home, and things in it. He wanted her to draw and amp, then a guitar. He said her guitar looked like a balloon. He drew a lamp, and pretended to turn it on.

A couple minutes before 7 the park cleared out as it started to get dark. We hung around for awhile longer, but the mosquitos started to come out, so we headed out. Stopped at the bathrooms, and August and I looked in the library booth. He liked the series of books about famous people, finding ones (in Korean) on Gandhi, Nobel, the Curies, etc. We walked by the second play structure. August said “One more thing” and played on something for a minute, then took off running to a structure, saying “I’ll do TWO things.” But then Carly found a little sitting swing, so it became 3.

On the way home, he asked where his iPad was and I said at home. He said “Pretend” and I pretended to hand him an iPad. He then pretended to play on his music apps, and pretended to make a new profile in the TinyBop apps – that includes picking a silhouette that looks like you, a color, then typing in a name. At home, he did some iPad, then coloring with Carly. She spilled the crayons a bit, and he apologized to her “Sorry, mama” and helped her clean them up. He was saying sorry to her a lot today.

I gave him a bath – a lot of playing with the letters again – and then he watched a couple minutes of Yellow Submarine while I tried to cut his hair. Got the bangs done, but the hair falling on him was bugging him. I suggested we put a towel on him, and he liked that idea. But when I went to get a towel he tried to start playing with Duplos. Told him it was either video and haircut, or heading in to bed for reading and sleep. He chose the bed, so the rest of the haircut will wait. He and Carly were asleep around 9:20.

 

141 right there: 

Chestnuts: 

Climbing and singing:

– – Working on part of the puzzle

Chanting and pointing

Putting the chestnut back together

Climbing and singing

In the net with mama

On our walk: 

Magpie children’s park: 

Our home: 

“Two things”: 

Up at 7:13. Very calm again.  on floor, then played with the wooden shapes puzzle. After that, Duplos, making a ship shape that we said was carrying food for the zoo. He then wanted the zookeeper to help with puzzles, so she helped with the Peter Rabbit puzzle. We had cereal, and he watched one Kipper episode while I showered, then got out the Spanish cards and was looking at those when I got out. We then went and played in his nest. He got two coins from my pocket and was playing with them, hiding them in the blanket. We then started to get ready to go. He got the phone and wanted to call animals. He said “The spiders name is three hundred thousand two” meaning the phone number. I joked about calling a wrong number once, then he wanted to dial more wrong numbers. We skyped with my parents. While skyping, he talked about wanting to go to Kipper’s house, we played in the nest, and he wanted to color. He wanted to color on the floor with the pink crayon, and claimed that the blunt end wouldn’t write on the floor. He wanted me to do it, so I did, showing him that it actually did. He smiled, and loudly said “Hey dada. What do you color on?” Which is what we always say to him, then he says “On the paper!” Got me. It reminded me that yesterday, as I was trying to get him to take a nap and we were walking, he caught me crossing an intersection on red. It was up near Chysanthemum park, on the side street that runs along the stream. I crossed and he said “It’s red! It’s red!“ After we hung up, he wanted to work more on the mosaic, and I was coloring in a space. He’s started to do it as well (in the past he would just scribble). I did a space, and he looked and said “Hey dada. I see some white.” Did a little more iPad, then finally we were ready to head out the door. For some reason I mentioned a wizard, and he asked what a wizard was, and I answered by explaining magic, then picking up a ball and making it disappear. He said “More wizarding!” I hadn’t used it as a verb.

We headed out. There’s a food thing going on at the park, and a band playing. As we walked by I realized August was dancing in the backpack, moving his fists around. On the train he was asking about all the stops, and for one said on his own “There’s nothing too exciting at that stop.”

We transferred at Gunja and went to Achasan, and went to Daiso. Got a new lunch bag thing, as one of ours is wearing out, new straws for his bottles, and a set of letter stickers for him. Looked at puzzles, but they only had 150 piece puzzles. We had gotten one roll of kimbap in the subway, and we stopped by the old playground/foot path and ate lunch. He then played on the play structure, first climbing up the little climbing wall. He contemplated the skinny rope bridge, but decided against that. We went down the slide. I changed him, and he was tired. We got in the backpack, and he wanted to go to the children’s museum. I told him after his nap. He got really sad, and kept repeating “Today. Today, dada. Can we go today?” A good example of ‘today’ meaning ‘now’. Lasted about 10 minutes. I had to stop after a minute to get out a tissue for him. Then he fell asleep.

Slept from 1:36 to 2:54 in the upstairs coffee shop. When he woke up I told him we had to go straight to the children’s museum if he wanted to play there. We hurried over there. He first wanted to go up to the space play area – he looked at the signs on the wall and chose from those. We went up there for a few minutes. He did some hopping, and playing with buttons and switches in the spaceship, then he wanted to go down to the blue blocks. We went down there and played. There was a boy who spoke English with his mom. August seemed a little weirded out by them – I think he maybe thought they were talking to him. Other kids showed up, and started making a big fort using most of the pieces. August helped out, adding to their wall pretty well. At one point he was entranced by the music, looking up at it, and he also laid on the ground and watched the numbers change on the CD player. Oh, and in the space area we learned he is 100cm tall.

Right at 3:30 I told him we needed to leave, and he went without a fuss. I’d been explaining to him what we were doing. We walked to Children’s Grand Park station. He was once again optimistic that the escalators would be open. He spotted them first and was excited even though they weren’t: “Not open!” At Hagye we transferred to the Nowon 15 bus. Took about 10 minutes. We saw 3 1137 buses in the meantime. August had a seat both directions, while I sat next to him. He ate the Larabar, then we played I Spy. When we drove by Wolgye Stations, he said “You’ve been here…Don’t like it.” He was remembering that we always meet other people there. We went to Tospia and got sandwiches and coffee for Carly. Walked to APIS. He was nervous about going in, but I said he didn’t have to talk to anyone, and if anyone said hi I would just say hi and we’d keep going. He did well. Once we got up there, he went straight to her computer, wanting a document. I told her he had been a little nervous coming in. He said “BIG nervous”. We ate the sandwiches. He ate the pizza one and said “Its a little spicy. Not too spicy on your mouth.” He drew on a whiteboard, making squiggly lines, and when it was time to leave at 5:30, he said bye bye to Carly and waved. He didn’t mention nursing the entire time, and wasn’t upset when we left.

We got home, and put together 3 of his small puzzles, then played in the nest. He wanted to do emojis on the iPad, and wanted a piggy back ride while doing it. He let me carry him around the house a little too. At some point, he said “I’ll be back soon.” I got his bath ready, and he got in without a fuss. We had a lot of fun with the letters. Then, playing on the bed, he almost fell of. I told him to be careful. He then told me he had fallen off the bed yesterday. When I asked when, he said it was dark, and when I asked where mama was, he said sleeping. I then asked if it was pretend, and he said yes. But then seemed to claim it was real.

Carly got home, and they were nursing. She asked him if he’d taken a bath and he said yes, but then she hollered to me to verify. Then she asked him if he had played with the letters. He said yes, then hollered on his own to me “Did we play with the letters?” He got out the bucket of blue counting blocks and we all played with those. Carly had brought up a present from Tana. He opened it, and it is a stuffed bear with ‘August’ on it. His game with it became to wipe poop off its bottom, which started because he said there was some poop on its ruffle. Anyway, we all went into bed and played with the bear, and August and I did weird flops and lifts, as he made up funny names like “Want a moomoomaamakakakaah”. He struggled a little about going to sleep, but he was asleep a little before 10.

Waking up:

Playground: 

Sad Zinnie: 

Children’s museum: 

CD player: 

Subway. Making a bird out of shapes: 

APIS:

On the bus: 

Bath: 

Q parts! 

His first Teuni Teuni class today, and he climbed all over the big kids structure at the park. And a lot of playing in nests.

August gave me a good kick in the nose at some point during the nice, and rolled into the headboard in the process. He didn’t wake up though. He was up at 7:25. Walked down the hallway and quietly asked for me first. Only when I picked him up did he ask where mama was. He didn’t get upset at all, just put his head down on my shoulder a bit. First activity was doing all the piano keys, then took them out. As he took them out, I asked if he wanted to build a tower. His reply: “After you take those out. AFTER.” He used ‘after’ a couple other times during the day. Built towers for awhile, then we shared a bagel. Then read some Bob Books. Haven’t done that for awhile. I was doing most of the reading, but he did some. I took a shower, and he was identifying vegetables on the iPad, then we played with Marco Polo Oceans, mainly building the boat and sub over and over. Really into the building games. Then got out the wood puzzle with shapes and played with that, making pictures and shapes in it. He then did one of the small Daiso puzzles on his own. I gave some advice on where pieces went, but I never touched it. That was impressive, as those puzzles are actually kind of difficult to get the pieces together.

He wanted to play in the nest, so we went in the bedroom. As soon as he got in the nest, he started talking about the music box at the children’s museum that doesn’t work. He was then pretending to be sick, and I got a medicine dispenser to play with. Brushed our teeth in there as well. At one point I asked if he wanted to pee, and he replied “I just do not have pee, dada birdie.”

He was so into the nest that it took some work to get him out of the house by 11:30. His class was at 11:50. Had mentioned class several times and he hadn’t said anything. Once we got there though and went upstairs he knew exactly what was going on and didn’t go in. He kept saying something like “Dada go in. Zinnie stay out here.” He got a little upset when he saw the teacher and we backed out for a minute. When I took him back in he was mainly sad and pleading. Kept saying “No dada. No. No dada.” He didn’t do any of the intro stuff (no walking path or forward rolls), but when the toys came out he slowly, slowly got drawn in. First I sat down with him clinging to me, then got him standing, but he stood on my feet and tried to climb me. But then he finally accepted it – I think it was when he got to help with clean up on the first activity that he was hooked. Class was all about leaves and ginkgo trees, and there was one activity where they used nets to catch dragonflies. At the end he was good enough with the teacher to sit for his treat, and then bow and sort of say thank you and goodbye. Went out and he wanted to play on the little vehicles that you can sit in. He saw one of them moving, and suddenly he wanted one that moved as well – in the past the idea scared him. After some fighting with the coin machine (it only gave me 600 won for my first 1000 won note), I got the helicopter going for him. He liked that, and I told him we could do it again after class next week.

Went downstairs and did grocery shopping. Got a few things and discovered carrot apple juice for smoothie purposes. Went home and made a smoothie and salmon sandwich for lunch. We ate, then he wanted to try falling asleep in his nest. Didn’t want me in the room. Gave him a couple attempts and it didn’t work, so we went out in the stroller. Walked around for 20 or 25 minutes, and now after 2. He wasn’t falling asleep, and when I asked him about it, he wanted to go to a playground. Didn’t even mention a coffee shop. So we went to Wild Chrysanthemum Children’s Park. He got out of the stroller and immediately went to the climbing wall. This park has a big play structure, which he has wanted to go on before, but you have to be able to climb to get on it at all. He needed help with one step, then was up. I climbed up, and we made our way around the structure: rope floor thing, a shaky bridge (where August went first, telling me “It is not shaky. A little shaky.”), then climbing down to a platform, then getting used to the shaky platform (scared him at first, but by the end he was standing on it as we shook it), climbing back up the net part, then down a slide with me.

As we got up to the slide, he said “Dada. Thanks for helping me.” So sweet. We went over to get some water, and the wind blew the stroller away. He got worried about that, but it hit a little toy thing a few feet away and stopped. He then went over to the sand, and climbed into a little enclosure, using climbing walls. The tricky part was turning around to go down the other side. Inside, I got the shovel for him, and he started drawing lines in the sand. At one point he asked me “How you doing dada birdie?” He kept drawing, and started drawing homes, mainly “mama and Zinnie and dada’s home” but also for other people. He drew a lot on his own, but eventually wanted me to help. I got in several times. We would draw rooms, and say what they were, and what was in them. We had a music room, with piano, etc. and he requested an amp (from GarageBand). It had gotten sunny, and he was sweating pretty good. This kept going, and I was telling him I wanted to read my book in the shade. He would get me back in for a minute and said “Sigh Dada. Fine. I’ll do some.” Which is his way of mocking/copying me, telling me to sigh and say “Fine, I’ll do some.” But eventually I told him I was out of ideas and didn’t want to play in the sun; he could either play by himself and I would read in the shade, or we could both move and play in the sand in the shade. Reluctantly, he gave in and climbed out and moved to a shady spot in the sand.

I had thought about taking him to a coffee shop at 4, but he had just kept playing. We continued in our new spot until 4:30, and may have stayed later, but saw the stroller blow again. He ran and sat on it so it wouldn’t move again. When getting him to move, I had told him I was out of ideas. Now, getting ready to leave, he commented on my head being empty of ideas, and when I asked if he was out of ideas too he said yes. Before we left though he started talking about where I helped him and, after I put on the brake, he got out and played with the climbing wall (letter shapes and all) and sat on the worm again before we left at 4:40.

Carly was a little late getting home. August had started playing on his own when we got home, so I was able to do some clean up. They nursed, then we’re playing with Duplos. They broke at one point and he said “It’s not Zinnie’s fault.” I think they were building a house for the zookeeper at first, then it was a house for us. He looked at it and said “It’s a nice building.” He was opposed to taking a bath, but eventually he let me take him in, and we had fun with the letters. First, I was pretending to get upset when the letters wouldn’t stick to the door for me, but they would for him. So I had him ‘teach’ me how to get them wet first. He was making nonsense words on the door, and we started to act them out to show what they look like. After his bath he finally ate some dinner with Carly.

He wanted his nest, so we all went in the bedroom. As soon as he climbed in, he said “The music box in the children’s museum does not work.” Very interesting that he associates the music box with his nest. I asked if he wanted a blanket. He really looked like a big kid with his head on a pillow, and his hands resting on the blanket covering him. He asked Carly “how you doing mama bird?” Then we were finding worms. He found one: “That is a sweet one that has blackberry juice in it.” He got a little hyper doing jumps/falls onto the bed. After finding a few more worms (and slugs – he was pretending to eat slugs) he went to sleep pretty quickly around 7:40.

Morning: 

Teuni Teuni class: 

Heliopter:

Watching the mouse: 

Park: 

Home: 

 

Got up at 7:36. Pretty calm. But went to the front door and locked it, as Carly always leaves it unlocked when she leaves so he doesn’t hear it. From there, went in and wanted to do the Peter Rabbit puzzle. He started to destroy it once, we put it back together, and he kicked me out for the last piece. We made a Duplo wall for the zoo, ate banana bread, and I took a shower. Came out and he was playing Classify It! on the iPad. We sorted animals together for several minutes. Did piano keys, then he played with the Weather app on the iPad (not the forecasts one, but one that teaches him about weather) while we got ready. He peed on the toilet. I weighed us today, and him in the backpack weighs 51.3 pounds. The pack says the maximum load is 48 pounds, so we’re pushing it.

Left right at 10. Slight rain, so stopped in the park and put the cover up and put on my hat and made it to the subway. A lot of talking about the stops and transferring to line 2 going both directions. Made some robots in the Robot Factory app on the way down. Got to Samseong Station and made the long walk through the COEX Mall to the aquarium and bought a membership for 55000 won. Saves us money if we go 3 times this year. He was getting upset while waiting for the membership, and was a little slow getting into the aquarium. He liked the escalator at the beginning and kept wanting to go back out and find escalators. He started to get hooked at the funny aquariums. He laughed at the phone booth filled with fish, and really liked the refrigerator and the sink and pot on a stove with fish in them. Then, there is an aquarium where you can put your hand in and they nibble on the dead skin. He wouldn’t put his hand in, but liked me doing it. He spent some time playing with the stove – said there was tea in the tea pot – and ones with buttons. Oh, there is an aquarium in an old video game and he liked the buttons on that.

He really got hooked at the touching area. Touched the different kinds of shells with snails in them, then the sea stars and sea pineapples. There were a kind of sea worm that he was really interested in, but he wouldn’t put his arm deep enough to touch them. And of course later he kept asking what kind of worm they were, but I forgot the name. We washed our hands and he used the hand dryer a lot. Interesting because this was where he first used a hand dryer a long time ago. They are quiet ones and light up your hands red. After that, he became scared of them, because most are much louder. Anyway, after that he really liked the microscopes: you could watch baby jellyfish, and baby and adult artemia. Next thing to really catch his eye were the shrimp fish and garden eels. He and I were both getting hungry. We had entered around 11:30 and it was getting to be 1. Stopped a couple times so he could eat crackers. Felt like I was hurrying him through much of the rest. There was just more and more to see: fake waterfalls, beavers, a few other things caught his attention. For several he would say things like “How you doing beavers?” and I would answer as the animals. I mentioned getting to the seals, and he asked “can you hold them? Can you touch them?” He also liked the moving walkway that snakes through the big aquarium part.

Anyway, we finished up, went back in and got the big backpack (left it in a big locker – in the future might leave the backpack at home and rent a stroller). Tried for awhile to find a GS25 or something, as mall eating isn’t cheap. Eventually decided we had enough food with us. First tried to walk to a spot where there was a band playing (teenage band doing K-Popish stuff) but it was overwhelming for August. He wanted to go outside, so had to show him it was raining. So decided on the baby area. Then the task of finding the baby area. Knew the general vicinity but still hard to find. Kept trying to look at the big maps, but always a wait, and August wanted to touch them (they’re interactive). Finally made it, and we had a nice relaxing lunch. He was very interested in one other baby that was in there. After that family left, he heard something, and I said it was the woman that works there. He said “Want to ask her what she working on.” Then immediately got shy about it and didn’t want to go find her. When she came out though and sat at the computer he was still very interested in what she was doing.

Now around 2, and made a half-hearted attempt at a nap. But getting late for that, and it was way too crazy for him to fall asleep. Would have had to figure out how to find an empty floor upstairs around the conference rooms or something. He was also talking about heading home. First we went and made a pressed penny (well, piece of metal) at the machine we had seen in the aquarium gift shop. Fun for us, then a gift for one of Carly’s friends who collects them. Then as we were walking I saw a cell phone case store. Went in, and found a stick-on wallet for mine. Perfect. August had been carrying the coin thing and kind of rubbing it on my neck. As I was paying, August said he had dropped it. He wanted to get down and look. We didn’t find it, but he started looking at cases. I had noticed that several said ‘Ryan’ on them. Turns out there is a Kakao character named Ryan. August spent about 20 minutes looking at cases and reading the names. He walked by the stereo they had, and started dancing to the music too.

After that, I gave him the options of home, book store, or getting a new penny. He chose the latter. Started walking, but then realized I should look in the backpack. Sure enough, it had fallen down by where his feet go. Had him give me a high five for finding it. He then wanted to drop it, and spent a couple minutes walking around and dropping it on the floor.

Now past 3, we headed home. Easy enough. While getting in the backpack to transfer at Konkuk, he suddenly said “Dada high five“. I turned around to see that the woman sitting next to us was trying to give him a high five. He was being shy. So he high fived with my hand. He refused to talk to her, and turned away, and chanted “Konkuk University” as he knew where we were. The woman understood him and laughed. At Hagye it looked like it was raining really well, so we put on the full rain cover, which he wasn’t happy about. He quieted down as soon as we were outside – in part because he was falling asleep.

Got home at 4:20, and went straight to the piano keys. Carly was home at 5 and they nursed, then we ate dinner. He was falling asleep after that, but then they did counting with the Spanish cards again. She gave him a bath, and he was upset, so she had me come and be funny. I was holding my coffee mug, so had the cat on it meow from the doorway. We then we’re all in bed, and August had his first pillow fight, which he thought was hilarious. Loud screeching. Then, suddenly, he wanted me to make him a nest out of pillows. Did that, and added the blankets and sheet and he still wanted more. He said more pillows must be hiding. So he stole the two Carly was leaning against. Played in the nest for several minutes, wanting me to get him worms, then he would pretend to sleep. He went to sleep about 7:30, but a little before 8 he suddenly opened the door, and Carly had to go back in for a bit to get him back to sleep.

Morning:

Last piece. Telling me to go away: 

COEX Mall. Touching there dog sculpture: 

Aquarium: 

Beavers: 

Hand dryer: 

Cellphone case store: 

His nest: 

He was up at 6:57. I went in and he asked where mama was. I told him, and he loudly said “No!” and threw himself down on the bed. We lay there for a few minutes, then he took my glasses, put them on, and started playing with them: “Want you to poke you in the eye…Zinnie poke you in the eye.” He looked at me and said “You’re a stranger.” Remembering yesterday, he said “200 mango poop breads…we hand blueberry poop bread.” Then “We have banana bread? Can we go eat some?” He jumped on the bed and stood in the crack for a few minutes, wanting to play with the cords, before we actually went out and had banana bread. Had some of that, then he wanted some cereal. Got him a little bowl, then made a smoothie with spinach in it.

We worked on the Peter Rabbit puzzle, putting a good amount together. I took a shower, and when I came out, I heard him saying “Hello”. I looked out to find him sitting on the desk chair, pretending to talk on my old iPhone. Got down and we played with that for a few minutes – first calling Birdie, then a cicada, beetle, and ladybug. He would ask how they were doing, and they’d ask him questions.

We did the slurp game from yesterday with both some smoothie and his vitamins. He continues to be intrigued by my own omega-3 vitamins, and asking what they taste like, so I offered to cut one open so he could taste it, then not like it. But when I gave it to him, he bit right down, so fish oil squirted everywhere, getting on his face. Don’t think he liked it, but wasn’t disgusted either. But he was trying to wipe off his face. I went to get a paper towel, and he went and laid down on the carpet and started wiping his face on the carpet. I grabbed him right away, but apparently he got a little on it – later, Carly would happen to lay down in the exact spot and ask why it smelled like fish.

We used the vitamins to make octagons and nonagons and other shapes, then got ready to go. But of course then he wanted to play with blocks and make flat towers before we left, so we did that.  On the train, we tried out a few new apps: one called Simple Machines, one called ShapeKit (where we did most of the tutorial), then one called Plants. He also did Simple Machines on the way home, really liking the bicycle one, and we read a couple Dr. Seuss stories. The one he remembered later, when I asked, was the Plants app.

We got to the park, grabbed one roll of kimbap from the woman with the stand, then ate by the rectangle pond. He did some dancing as he sat on the table to the Korean version of Do-Ra-Mi. He was then sitting and curling in my lap and eating all of the pieces of kimbap – including all of the carrot and mushroom – as if they were worms. That was fun. And a few times he said “Thank you birdie dada!”

From there we looked at the books for a couple minutes (they were open), then headed upstairs to play on the stairs. He was being slow up the stairs though, and people passed us, and got to the piano before us. He was disappointed for a second when I said we’d have to way, but then he got excited “Play at Tayo bus!” So we went down there and played for a good 20+ minutes. He pretended to drive this time, particularly to Carly’s work. He did a wonderful job of getting out of the way when new kids came in. When they left that area, he would ask me if he could play there again. Turns out we can also go in the yellow bus without paying, so went in there and did the same, and played on the chairs and watched a little Tayo. When he started to get a little sucked in by the TV we left. Went up to the piano and played with it for another 15 minutes. Played a lot of Wheels on the Bus and pretended to put in keys. It was windy, so he was pretending the keys were blowing away, like the leaves, and run and get them.

Changed him, then walked for a nap. Took close to 20 minutes, but he fell asleep from 1:24 to 2:42. Woke up in the downstairs coffee shop. He played with his music apps, quietly, then the Plants app. About 3:30 I asked if he wanted to do anything else before we left. He said Children’s Museum. Couldn’t get him to sidewalk chalk. One of these days.

We went there, and spent our entire time in the light area, playing with the light cubes, the light rods, and the light shape. And a couple minutes with the colorful shadows and the shadow animals. But in particular he was into the rods, which are colored cylinders of plastic that you stick in a grid and they light up. He was playing on his own, first saying he made a zebra, then it got more complex so it was nonsense words. Two bigger girls came over and started turning them all orderly: one row of red, etc. He got into that and we helped, then he got into doing patterns. He would put colors in an order, and call it a pattern. Not really getting the need for repetition, but then I would repeat the series, kind of making it into a song, and it would become a pattern. He started dancing to them as I chanted: “red, blue, blue, red, yellow, blue green…” Played with those until 4:17. With the blocks he mainly made flat towers, and we got where we were taking turns putting pieces on. He would destroy one, then ask “Shall we make more towers?” The shapes were the last thing. I made a butterfly, then he gave the butterfly ice cream, then decided it wasn’t ice cream. I took a photo right as he declared it wasn’t, then later in the evening he saw the photo and said “It is not ice cream”. Finally, he was making elaborate layouts with the shapes, and said it was our home. I asked where we slept, and he initially pointed to three different areas for the three of us. I questioned that, and he changed it, putting him and Carly together, but I was still on my own.

Thought he would be difficult to get out of there, but when I asked him to say goodbye to the shapes at 4:34 he said goodbye and waved to them and we were off. Changed him at the bathroom. I then had to go to the bathroom, and he just stood at the door of the bathroom, out of sight, and yelled “Dada! How are you doing?” while I went. Outside, he wanted to do shoes  “on your own”. He was trying to stand and put them on, without me holding him, and with me just holding the tip of the shoe. He leaned on me a little, but it was fun to see him start to try to put his shoes on himself. Needed a little help getting his feet in, then he would do the straps. He got his spray bottle out, and was drinking from it, pretending it was different flavors, like pink gum: “I like the taste of it”

Headed home, standing for awhile, then got a seat. Walking home, we saw the fake waterfall on and watched it a bit. That is probably going to turn off soon. That and seeing the lotus flowers lose their petals have made me realize that we’re starting to have some of our ‘lasts’ in Korea: last lotus flowers, etc. He was singing to Wheels on the Bus, and started singing numbers to the tune. He got from 1 to 28. He then did some silly math, asking “C plus C equals…” He came up with the answer “C plus C is banana” as we walked by Mama Juice.

Had a few minutes at home before Carly got home. He first shouted his greeting to her, then turned to me and said “Mama’s computer’s here, dada.” A game of his to ask, usually 3 or 4 times a day, where mama’s computer went. I’ll say “She took it to work.”

They nursed, him calling her  “mama bird”. He discovered the lock on the door. Carly explained about it, and then he promptly locked it with us out of the room. Then unlocked it. So, we are past the stage of worrying about him locking the door unintentionally and not being able to unlock it. We ate dinner, then Carly changed him and let him be naked after that. A funny question as he came back into the parlor. He asked me “Can you do your penis on the GROUND, dada?” Basically a very funny way of asking if he could sit on the ground naked (substitute ‘I’ and ‘my’ for ‘you’ and ‘your’ and it makes more sense – still working on the pronouns).

Carly gave him a bath and they played to
gether a bit. He then came in with me while Carly went to shower. He wanted to do nest with me, and actually wanted to pretend nurse, then pretended to go to sleep, cuddled up next to me. When he couldn’t sleep, he played with Duplos for a bit, then wanted to type on my iPad. He did, then got to the emoji keyboard. That went on for awhile, then he found the flag emojis, and got super excited and hyper about them – they are basically a playground of colors and shapes and stars and moons and other things to identify. He started jumping and climbing on my back, pointing at the screen to talk about what was on them. He would get down, type several more, then climb back up again. This lasted quite awhile.

I took photos, and he saw the camera, and when he was done, finally, with the flags, he wanted to play with the timer on the camera, which he remembers from finding once, long ago. He did that for a few minutes, and we got one good selfie out of that. Carly then found the fish spot on the carpet, and they did some Duplos. He put one piece on, and called it a “point”, which comes from playing with the vitamins, etc. and doing shapes. He then puts a second one down and calls it a “line”. He also started to make a “Q tower” that didn’t look anything like a Q. Carly asked if he was ready to sleep, and he said “I’m done sleepy sleeps”. But a bit later he was trying to push random things on my iPad, and melting down a bit when I wouldn’t let him. Seemed on the verge of sleep. Went in to try to sleep about 9. Thought they were both asleep, but suddenly August opened the door to the parlor at 9:30, and asked “what are you watching dada?” We got out the cards, focusing on the Spanish ones. He mainly used them to practice counting. He could do up to 5 on his own. Skipped 6. With 7 and above he would become unsure of losing his place as he counted the objects, and want me to help him point. He pretty much had 7 down by the time he went back in at 10 and went to sleep.

My glasses:

Phone: 

Lunch: 

Driving the bus: 

Children’s museum: 

Our house. Where I sleep:

Emoji: 

He woke up at 7:45. Held him for a minute, then he was straight to the Duplos. We were making letters and numbers out of them, and we had made a 9 with the line at the bottom. He added a piece to make it look like a curved on and said “It’s a sitting 9!” He did some emailing with Carly, then played with the music apps, before doing some color sorting and mixing in the colors app.

I was about to jump in the shower, but he wanted some cereal, so we had that. He was playing with the remote to the stereo we don’t use, which he has done several times, but this time he pretended it was a phone. I asked who he was calling, and he said “birdie”. So he talked to a birdie. He then took the Peter Rabbit puzzle apart, and wanted birdie to help. We did some of the puzzle, then I finally took a shower and we got ready to go. We also of course did the piano keys. He only had C in, and was hitting it singing the ABC song. Left a little after 10.

We played with a Hangeul app on the way down. He understood the transferring, and that we were on line 5, as he talked about it later on the way back, and then at home. We got out at Olympic Park and went to CU, where we got some new kimbap, a macaroni salad, and he picked out a mango juice, and I got blueberry. He didn’t eat much, saying the macaroni was crunchy, and that the blueberry juice was salty. Threw our stuff away and went walking. Talked about where to go, and I mentioned the history museum, and he really wanted to go there. So he was disappointed when it was closed. He then used it for a “The baby was sad because she wanted to go to the history museum.” Later I would say sorry you were sad that the history museum wasn’t open, and he would claim he wasn’t sad about it. On the walk over, he was singing Wheels on the Bus, and wanted me to. He was doing hand motions in the backpack – driving, doors opening, etc. and said there were buttons to make the babies cry, and “There’s a button for the mama’s go shh shh shh” (think he said that one later at the playground). He also spotted interesting bushes with berries on them – something like beauty berries, I think.

Anyway, went to the big playground. They changed it all over the summer. Or at least parts of it. He mainly climbed on a big triangle-shaped climbing thing. On the rope ladder side he climbed to the top, about 7 feet up. On his way down his foot slipped and I went to help him, but he wasn’t upset – he was asking if he could get down under the rope part. He also went in the big jeep toy (which was there before, but moved). He sat in there and sang Wheels on the Bus, then he climbed in a little shaky toy and did the same. A few times he mentioned/sang about driving to mama’s work.

He needed changing, so we went and changed him in the nearby bathroom. He saw the drawings of poop on a nearby door, for the little Dongbang bakery – literally ‘Dung bread’. We went in a bit later and got a blueberry one. As we ate it, he joked about it being a “Pile of spaghetti poop”. He was looking a bit tired, but I didn’t expect a nap. We went walking around the pond area, but he just kept talking – a lot about colors, asking how they would mix, and singing about them as well. After about 20 minutes it was clear it was a no nap day. We stopped to look at the information on the 88 Olympics, and at the list of gold medal winners. We then watched the fake waterfall, and the waterwheel exhibit for several minutes. The waterwheel was only going partially around, going back and forth, and he kept asking why it was broken, and wanted someone to come fix it.

We started walking through the park, back to the same station. There was an announcement on the speakers, and he really wanted to know what it was about. We had heard one before trying to give him a nap, and one of us, I can’t remember who, started a joke that it was telling babies they were supposed to take a nap. This time he wanted to really know. After it stopped, New Kids on the Block’s “Step by Step” played.

We spotted the small playground near the south end of the park that he’d never played at. He wanted to get down. That it would be short, but we spent a lot of time there. He went across the shaky bridge a couple times, holding my hand. There was a net floor space, and at the entrance to it two handles. He started the bzzzzt game, and that went on for a long time. Then once when he had me get bzzzzt,, he suddenly said “Accident! It will feel better dada…I grabbed some water for you.” He then spent several minutes running around the structure, pretending to get water, then rubbing it on my hand and telling me it would feel better. A guy came and talked to us for a few minutes, kind of putting and end to that one, then we headed out, walking to the exit. Got him to do some of the walking. Spent a few minutes playing with a drinking fountain, then he found two beads on the ground and we looked for more as we walked towards the exit. Found several, and he threw some in the fountain. He drank from his water bottle, then asked “Can you spit in the train station?” He then randomly said “I just want dada to get some gum.”

We made our way home. On line 7 he spent all his time looking at the subway map, playing “All the way to this stop…”, where he points to a random stop, and then asks what is at that stop. His diaper was seeming full, so I carried him home. We changed him, then quickly headed to the pink building to pick up a couple things. Got back home a little before Carly. I let August get a little grape jelly thing at the grocery store, and he remembered it and wanted to eat it. When he was eating it, he said it “slurped” in his mouth. He used the word first, but then found it hilarious when I used it every time he took a bite. Carly had dropped off a bottle that Derek had left, and he gave her a bunch of mini meatloafs that he had made. We ate those and lasagna for dinner. He was nursing and almost fell asleep at 6:20, and wasn’t happy about being woken back up. Carly gave him a bath, and he rebounded and had. Lot of fun. He then came out with me and we did Hangeul together on the iPad. He then went to sleep at 7:40.

Straight to the Duplos:

Mixing colors: 

Playground. Counting rope steps: 

Poop bread: 

Not sleeping: 

Gold medal winners: 

Playground 2: 

Pigeon, thumb, and clouds: 

In the station: 

Home: 

Asleep: 

Plans to go to Dream Forest with Derek and the kids were scuttled when he wanted to come over here instead. Rain in the afternoon then forced us to do a short walk, and we ended up at the art museum.

He was up at 6 with Carly. I was up sometime later. She made stovetop and rice cooker lasagna this morning that turned out really well. He and I did puzzles, starting with one of the sticker puzzles we got last spring at City Hall, then real puzzles. He continues to tell me to go away when he is about to finish a puzzle, even if I was barely involved with the puzzle before that. I had on the live stream of a Dresden Dolls concert from Coney Island, so we watched that (and the opening band PWR BTTM) as we played. He asked about the songs a few times. Got out his iPad and we played with the Arctic app for a good amount of time. When playing with the musk of he said “I have not seen one.” Then played Classify It, completing a few levels together, and the car app, which I hadn’t seen before.

Derek had headed our way around 11. I was making banana bread and still watching the concert, so wasn’t planning on going out until noon. Around 11:30 though they came up as it was raining. August was shy at first, first hiding in the parlor. Got him out for a couple minutes, and he helped me get cars out for Logan. He was also intrigued when Rosie was upset. Then nursed for awhile, after which he came out and played. We did more puzzles, and after they left August just worked on puzzles on his own for a few minutes. He then took a nap, and it was a long one, from 12:20 to 2:17.

After he woke up and nursed, he and I played with the musical instruments (there was also a lot of piano keys today). I showed him how the sound of the cymbal changes depending on how you hold it. He really liked that, and was demonstrating himself. I was playing a rhythm on the cymbal with a drum stick, and he grabbed the tambourine (which we hadn’t used yet) and started playing along.

Eventually, we headed out. Planned to go to the parks north of Sarang Children’s Park, which Carly has never seen before. But then it started raining. Steadily. When we got out, August wanted pants on, although he refused a raincoat, choosing the stroller instead. We walked over to the art museum and went in to the play area. He wanted his pants off to play, so I took them off. As he went into the play area he said “Thank you dada!” He was jumping and singing 14 little monkeys. Carly went to look at art, and when she came in I asked him to jump and show mama. He said “Noooo. I’m full of 14 little monkeys.”

When he was done we ended up looking at some art. Hung out in the lobby for awhile, as it was raining hard. I went up and looked at some of the photographs, and they were looking down at the progress on the new exhibit downstairs. The blowy things turned on once. We then went upstairs so he could use the headphones. Up there, I found a room with projectors projecting colors on the wall and floor. He hadn’t seen that, and spent several minutes in there, watching the colors change. Headed home, still raining. He didn’t want his pants back on before we left, but that changed once outside.

At home, he played nest with Carly. Then he and I played Musyc and Figure. More nest and nursing. Then we stacked blocks and did some matching, before spending a lot of time with Figure. He wanted me to play Wheels on the Bus, and I made a mistake and said something about a wrong note. He kept wanting to know “where the wrong notes go?” Spent several minutes explaining and demonstrating, but a difficult concept to grasp.

He peed on his own a couple times, although I think once it ended up on the floor of the hall as he didn’t make it down there in time. I gave him a quick bath – he took in his old toy that went on his high chair, and pretended to wash the lizards and monkey and bird and insects. The toy wasn’t actually in the bath, but we would pretend the animals would crawl or fly in one at a time and then wash them. After his bath, he took me in to bed for “Zinnie and dada bird” Eventually he wanted mama bird though. I said something about mama and baby bird. He stood on the floor and patted his chest with both hands and said “Zinnie is baby bird”. He was asleep at 8:40.

Puzzles with Rosie:

Walk in the rain: 

Art museum: 

Wet boy: 

He was awake a little before 7. He and Carly played the nest game for quite awhile, with him finding all sorts of colorful cicadas and other insects to eat. When we went out to the living room he was surprised to find the windows open, as it was cooler today. He said it “smells like cold” and kept trying to close the windows for awhile. I made some toast, and he played play dough with Carly. She’s trying to get him to nurse less, which is hard, because then it seems like he just thinks about it more. Eventually, they went back in the bedroom and played in the nest (and nursed, I presume). We then skyped with Cassie and Vivian for a long time. I played with him while we showed Vivian the Teuni cubes and the Duplos. They then skyped with Chuck and Cherie and Derek and family while I took a shower. He was then really upset about not nursing, and we were planning to go to Home Plus. Eventually, she gave in and nursed him, and he fell asleep. Way, way early for a nap, and he slept from 10:50 to 12:09.

After he woke up we finally got ready and headed over to Home Plus. Carly got to see where he likes to try out the tester creams. On the first basement she looked at backpacks, and August helped by knocking some off. August spotted the birds and said “How you doing birds?” We then headed down to groceries. At first he just wanted to smell the candies. Think he said “Want ‘I do not know’”, which is what I say when he asks what kind of candy they are. But then he and I actually did a lot of shopping. On the way home he was eating raisins, and pretending they were jelly beans. He would say what color they were, and what was in them, and offer them to Carly. Eventually I got a couple.

At home, they played in the parlor while I put the filters in the range hood. That took longer than expected. After that, we skyped with my parents. They then nursed. Carly did some vacuuming, and August then helped, and was vacuuming on his own. He and I then did some drawing, and he wanted to draw monsters. He was drawing the circles, and starting to draw eyes and mouths and whatnot. We worked together a little, but mainly he drew.

He was really working on pronouncing ‘jelly bean’, ‘highlighting’ (something he can now do on his own in word),  and ‘adult’.

In the late afternoon we headed out again and walked over to Hangeulbi Park. We first got coffee and juice at Mama Juice. The banana juice was really good. Along the way, August wanted to get down and walk. He walked a bit, but we also ended up carrying him. As we turned into the park, he said something about ‘left right’. Figured out it was “left right there”, as we had just taken a left into the park.

In the park we played in the flat area where the Hangeul characters are. Carly and I were kicking the soccer ball around, and he was playing with us a little and playing with pieces of plastic he found. The big metal letters (where my dad and me and August took a selfie) are now surrounded by bushes and landscaping, so he couldn’t play with those, but he was identifying the Hangeul characters made out of tiles on the ground, and identifying where tiles had broken and been replaced by boring cement ones. He also played the ‘bzzzzt’, having me touch a piece of plastic on the ground. We headed back to the playground, and August pretended to pee along the way, doing the whole toilet flushing and pulling up his pants thing. He found a plastic bead on the ground, and then we were finding them everywhere. This was the park, after all, where we first started noticing them.

At the playground he played with us on the swings a bit, but mainly he wanted to play on the exercise equipment. He also climbed on the play structure – he climbed up a little curved climbing wall on his own a few times, and climbed up and down the round steps. He was a little unsure about climbing down them, so I would spot him, but he did it without touching me at all.

We headed home. I had a slight headache, so Carly gave him a bath. They had a lot of fun with the letters and whatnot. From there he wanted to go straight to nursing and sleep, so they did, and he was asleep right at 8. I had made raviolis and chicken for him, but he apparently didn’t want dinner.

 

Offering Vivian some milk: 

Home Plus. “We should try this sometime”: 

Home: 

Interesting text on our coffee cup insulators: 

Hangeulbi Park: 

He was up at 6:30, nursed, and had a pleasant goodbye with Carly. He was still mellow after she left, and spent some time just lying on the floor. We then played with blocks, and then the piano keys. Switched to the iPad, where he played with Musyc more, and then tried a new music app, called Figure. He really got into that and played with it for quite awhile. We ate some toast, and played with some more blocks and the piano, then I took a shower. We then played with Duplos, making Hangeul characters and funny letters. He played more Musyc, and wanted it louder: “Want it too louder. Can you do it too louder, dada?” We got ready to go, but again he didn’t want to leave, having too much fun at home. He was also kind of stuck to the iPad this morning – the first time in quite awhile that I’ve felt like it was too much. Eventually got him out, and we left about 10:30.

On the subway down he pretended the train was a bus, then pretended to drive it, holding his hands up, as if on a steering wheel. He ate some crackers, and ended up with a hair in his mouth, which he didn’t like. He then used that as a ‘sad baby’ line: “baby sad because she has a hair in her mouth.”

At Children’s Grand Park he was excited to go to the children’s museum, and didn’t want to stop to eat. I was quite hungry, so insisted on sitting down outside the museum and eating half a peanut butter sandwich. He wasn’t happy about that, and stayed in the backpack and kept telling me I was done.

We went inside, and he first went downstairs. He did the Braille stamping, then wandered around a bit. By the luggage x-ray machine, we met an American woman with a Korean boy, about August’s age. She said she had adopted him, just got him yesterday, and they were going back to Minnesota on Tuesday. She also had a 13-year old daughter, who she said was a big help. I think she was Korean, too. But then August found a magnet and wanted to return it to the magnet wall, then wanted to go to the blue blocks. They left, and I didn’t get to talk to them again. In the blue blocks, he noted we were the only ones there. He then wanted something “Like the big kids made”. He meant a big structure, like a fort. So I built him one. He climbed on top once, but then found them too shaky, so was hesitant to get back on. Walked on the blocks, built a bit of a tower, then headed upstairs. On the first floor went to the nature area. Looked at the minerals (selenite, etc.) and then wore the bee and butterfly wings a bit, then went up in the nature house thing. Didn’t seemed bothered by the big crowds of kids. He found a ball from the ball area on the floor and wanted to return it. Did that, then went into the big ball area with a bunch of older kids around. Got into the spirit of throwing balls around like they were, although he seemed to be aiming a bit too much at the other kids. We watched the machine drop balls a couple times, then I got him out of there. He still didn’t want to leave, and we settled on the light area, which we haven’t been back to. He remembered the blocks though, and wanted to build with them. Played around there for a few minutes, then we headed out.

Got walking for a walk, but after a minute he wanted food. Set him down and got out the Larabar. He ate most of that and some water, then we kept walking. His brain was really working though. He started chanting “darkest and light” – a reference to the color sorting game we had been doing for a bit this morning in the colors app on the iPad. He was then singing Wheels on the Bus and sang: “The driver on the bus says please don’t go thataway, please don’t go thataway, please don’t go thataway…because we’re going sleepy sleeps…that’s the color pink and that’s the color blue…” That went on for a few minutes. Finally got quiet, and slept from 1:31 to 2:39, then fell back to sleep in my arms. We were in the upstairs cafe, and I put the iPad on one of the shelves by the window. It was a good height for reading, and I stood and read until he woke back up at 3:09.

A few minutes later, he started to leak. So we went outside and over by the piano and changed him. We were both hungry, so went down by the rectangle pond and ate. He was sitting on the table and accidentally knocked over the soy milk. We had fun using the spray bottle to spray the table clean. He saw the little library room and wanted to read books. Went over there, and it was locked. A woman saw us, talked to another woman who worked there, then they disappeared in search of a key. We looked at a couple books out on some small shelves, then he wanted to go back up to the piano, so left before they returned. Back at the piano he pretended to take the keys out and put them back in. A good teaching opportunity, as I would give him a letter, then he would ask which keys were D, etc. So teaching him the keyboard layout. Also played on it quite a bit.

Headed out a little after 4, but he saw the Tayo busses again, and noted that they were open. We went in the middle one, which is the shop, and he played with all the (disconnected) buttons and switches where the driver sits. Didn’t seem interested in actually sitting in the seat. Finally got him out of there, although he was very politely asking to go in the other ones (they cost money, just to watch Tayo – in Korean).

As we walked down to the station he was walking on the stairs, and needed to pee in his diaper. Then joked about peeing on the stairs, then “pretend potty”ed on the stair, complete with dumping the pee in the toilet, flushing, and pulling his pants back up. He stood/I held him on the way home. We got seats for the last 4 stops or so. But that went fine. He’s taken the warning signs about not touching and leaning on the doors to heart, and thought it was funny and daring to just barely touch the door. Then when I tried to touch the door he wouldn’t let me, grabbing my hand and saying “No”.

We saw a 15 bus as we headed around the park, so stopped across from Dunkin Donuts to see if Carly came across the bridge. Instead, she called, saying she was walking home, and a minute away. We walked over to meet her. As we neared the bakery, August said “Want to get bread for mama.” Indeed, once we met her, she had planned to get bread. Got bread, then picked up our iHerb package and headed up.

At home, he and I sat and played with Figure for a long time. I made him a quesadilla. He played Duplos with Carly, making Hangeul ㄷ and ㅁ on his own. Carly changed him, and they played in the changing room. Came out with a truck: “Dada, did you buy me this?” It was one I had purchased at Daiso. I went in, and he was working on the wooden backhoe puzzle from my parents. He was trying to figure out how to put the wheels on.

I gave him a bath. We got the bath letters out for the first time since we’ve been back. I had him sounding out words, then he was adding letters, making nonsense words, and sounding them out all on his own, then saying “that has spicy noodles in it”. Very cool. Now past 9. He wanted to play with blocks and I said we can build one more Safeway, then go read books in bed. He said “Deal”. We built that one more, then put all the blocks away (he had also put all the bath letters away) and headed to bed. We read Maisy, then he and Carly played in their nest. He fell asleep at 10 or a bit after.

Morning:

Children’s museum: 

Walking to go to sleep: 

Lunch: 

Tayo bus: 

Home: 

Dream Forest turned out to be a dry place, but we had fun anyway. And we found a new music app to have fun with.

Before I went to sleep last night, August sort of woke up and said “The juice one. Please, dada.” He then slept until 7:36. He called “Dada!” I went in and he asked “Where’d mama go?” Stretched and rolled around on the bed for several minutes. Told him about Dream Forest and he said “Today we can go? Today? Today dada?” ‘Today’ basically means ‘now’ to him. I was singing the “Ton of Qs…yes I do” song to him, and he changed it to “A ton of Ts…yes I see!” – nice job with the rhyme too. We ate oatmeal and mango for breakfast, and he was typing to Carly, and also using the voice transcription to type things to her. They exchanged a couple messages in the morning. We then tried out the Musyc app, and he had a lot of fun with that. From there, playing with Duplos: “That is the dragon. I should not touch it…Should Zinnie touch the monster?” I took a shower, then realized the guy was supposedly coming at 10 to fix the hot water heater. So we hurried and got ready to go. August insisted on playing with my vitamins though: “The monkey ate the spicy soup.” Then “bye, monkey” as he put the vitamins away. We left right at 10.

As we walked by the pink building, I told him about how he used to point out the letters on it. This started a new game, as he started saying “How you doing?” to letters on it, then everything he saw: Q, 9, bus, black car, etc. He also raised the ‘bzzzzt’ game, where one of us touches something, and the other says “bzzzzt” as if he got shocked. Got on the 100 bus, and he sat on his own.

We walked through Dream Forest, finding that the stream and fountain are now only on on the weekend. And the wading pools are malfunctioning anyway. So we went to GS25, getting kimbap, eggs, and a peach drink for lunch. Sat and ate those. When we were done, I handed him a piece of garbage and he walked over and threw it away on his own. He also sort of played with a cleaning woman through the glass. He wanted to go inside, and we went up and saw the free art show. A design show of prints and posters. A lot of shapes to point out, and we talked about which ones August would like to make. He also got kind of loud as it was echoey. Okay though, as we were the only people. As we left, the woman gave us a pack of waffle crackers. We sat and ate one of those.

He really wanted to go in the coffee shop, so we went in and got an orange juice and went in the book area. Played there for an hour or so. He can now do the things on the wall – sliding the objects around – with no problem. Played a lot on the iPad, and looked at some books. There were a couple of girls that were being kind of hyper, so that inspired him, and he did some running around. He also climbed on one of the little tables and laid on it for awhile.

When we were done there, we went upstairs and changed him. He saw the little door sensors that count how many people go in and out of the bathroom and turn the lights on and off accordingly, and I showed him how they work, and we went in and out several times to see. We then went to the sitting area near there, which is empty and kind of dark. He played around there for 20 or 30 minutes, playing with the seats made out of wire and trying to pick them up, and pretending to find insects (a lot of cicadas) and touch them, or say they are dead, and then grabbing them and releasing them or throwing them away. We also played with the voice memo app on my phone, recording him singing a few times.

Went walking, headed for APIS, out the north entrance to the park. He fell asleep right before we got to the Cafe Bonito, near the second tree playground, which I’d seen but never went in. Went up and had a view out the second floor windows. Slept from 2:10 to 3:12. When he woke up, I put on the backpack and we kept walking. We walked to Gaksheem Children’s Park, across from APIS. It too is shut down as a water park. Went to the regular playground part and played there. He spent most  of his time climbing up and down the steep slope with boards on it: “This is a tricky one. I can do it.” He could also climb in the little animal things on springs and rock on them – although he needed help getting out: the first time he needed help, he pretended to push the call button in the elevator. I did the voice for that, and he asked for help. And at the top of the hill he played on the exercise equipment – the spinning one had low enough handles for him. He was singing and making up Wheels on the bus lines and said “The bus in the bus goes bus, bus, bus”.

Right before 4:30 we walked over to the other park across from APIS, Angol Children’s Park, to meet Carly. He had just enough time to try to climb one metal ladder thing, then crouch and watch a girl play with two Transformer toys. Then Carly showed up. On the bus home he sat with her, then I picked him up before we got off. He wanted to get closer to the bus driver, then said he wanted to touch the AC controls. I said that was the bus drivers job. August said it was his job, and I said “No, that is your hobby.” When we were outside, he reach over towards Carly and said “Mama is my hobby.”

I made him a quesadilla for dinner, then we played with the piano keys – together and then by himself. They nursed, then we did more Duplos. He had earlier made what looked like a swan, then said there was a swan’s nest, and pretended to turn a light on and wake up the baby swan and it would cry. Then he’d turn the light off and the baby would go back to sleep. This game went on, and I started to pretend to be the mama swan, snapping at him to keep him away from the baby. He realized that Carly was taking a shower, so he went over to the door and kept shouting “Hey mama! How you doing?” She would answer, he’d ask again, etc. Then he suddenly said “Let me check something.” He went in the parlor, climbed up on Carly’s chair, and started playing with her computer and said “I’m just doing typing.” I actually opened up a Word document for him and he typed for awhile.

We then went out and played with blocks. He knocked down what I was building and said “Let me build it better.” He went in to pee and told Carly “Want to do it on my own…I’ll be done soon.” A bit later I asked if he was ready for a bath. He replied “No. I’m just too clean.” I gave him a bath, which went fine. He wanted me to throw the towel up again to get it caught on the hooks, and I managed to hook three at once. That was very exciting, and of course he wanted me to replicate the feat. I couldn’t. Took awhile to get him to sleep – it was 10 or a bit after by the time he was asleep.

In the morning, with all that time, I finished my journal typing, and finished reading Elect Mr. Robinson. Overall I liked it, and I liked his style and vision. But the novel didn’t deliver on the promise of the setup. Could have been so much more.

Morning: 

Lunch: 

Art: 

Cafe Dream: 

Playing in the arts center: 

Park: 

Park 2: 

Evening: 

Q: